viviendo la pura vida

 Welcome.  

Central America opened its arms to us yesterday...

...and if you don't watch out, we might just stay.

Forgive me for the hour is late and we are making final preparations for our 5.5 hour trip into the canopy come sunrise in the morning.  Our arrival was set off by a delayed flight that wouldn't let  us make our connection in Atlanta, but the heavens above saw fit to sneak us through Miami's doors and very gently lifted us up and over into San Jose.  Everything from here below is in complete OPPOSITE order, beginning with this evening dinner of sushi and lobster...

 Please pay no attention to the girl with the frizzy, tropical hair.  She ordered lobster because it was vacation and she deserved it.
 (So she says.)

 AND just before dinner, we walked through the downtown streets of Quepos, where we happened upon a quaint used bookstore.  I eyed a handmade scrapbook made of banana leaves that I just HAD to have to document our travels.  (Yes.  Of course I bought it.  It was ONLY 10,000 colones.  While we were paying for our purchases, the store was invaded (very quickly, I might add) by tons of people with movie cameras and sound equipment.  They were filming the next installment of The Librarian, a Noah Wyle made for TNT movie.  We were used as extras!!  It lasted all of 10 minutes, but was crazy fun.

 Also, inside the store was an awesome map that I have always wanted to have in our home...

 ...one that is full of pins of all the people that have come to visit!

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We expected to have plenty of rain, without a doubt, for entering a rainforest.  The best part of it all, is that it is SO predictable.  Each later afternoon, somewhere between 3pm and 6pm, it rains buckets for approximately an hour.  And then its over.  No plans ruined.  All downtown scheduled appropriately for a siesta.  :)

 Our lunchtime snack of quesadillas de pollo...

 ...and a caipirana I purchased on behalf of my favorite girl, Elsa. Love ya, sweetie!

 We floated ALL afternoon...

 ...and enjoyed the sun.

 ...Cool drinks certainly helped...

 Our room is nestled right on the rainforest to the east...

 The boys rented a jet ski and took a tour of the playas in and around Manuel Antonio.

 Each day, when our rooms are cleaned, a new ADORABLE friend is sent to greet us.  Yesterday it was a rabbit, but today was this awesome little changito (monkey).  We heard the crazy grunts of a real howler monkey today, but he was hiding and I could get a good picture of him.  Hoping tomorrow I will have plenty of animal pics!

 As my eyes grow heavy, I'll leave you with some PURA VIDA pictures...

...and tell you this is PURE LIFE.

There isn't a single picture I can take, nor video I could upload that could depict the elation that this country has introduced us to.  The sounds are tremendous.  Whether it be the screaming geckos that are roaming the wall and ceiling above me on the balcony as I type, the sweet birds that are nest just beyond my patio deck or the gueros a mi lado tratando hablar en espanol.  :)  The colors, too, cannot be contained in a single frame.  I'm not quite sure how I will ever be able to document any of this!!

It is well past my bedtime.  All others are sleeping.  It is time I join them and leave behind my serene vista of night air and ocean waves in the distance...

Hasta la proxima...